


Stumble

by scy



Category: The Vampire Diaries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-28
Updated: 2010-05-28
Packaged: 2017-10-09 18:34:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/90309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scy/pseuds/scy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeremy wakes up</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stumble

**Author's Note:**

> There are a lot of ways this could happen. This is one of them. [](http://seperis.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**seperis**](http://seperis.dreamwidth.org/) and [](http://spasticat.dreamwidth.org/profile)[](http://spasticat.dreamwidth.org/)**spasticat** gave me their thoughts and prodded helpfully.

Jeremy woke up, which was the first surprise. The second was finding Damon Salvatore sitting on the bed next to him.

"No good deed ever goes unpunished," Damon said, and somebody laughed.

Jeremy tried to sit up, but his head was throbbing, and his whole body ached. "What-"

The bed shifted, and Jeremy groaned.

"Good job, kid," Damon said, and Jeremy flinched when Damon put a hand on his chin and turned his head toward him. "A little blood, a bottle of your sister's pain meds, and you're on your way to being mostly dead."

"Why aren't I all the way there?" Jeremy asked.

"You don't ever listen, do you?" Damon asked, and Jeremy frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Damon shook his head and glanced over his shoulder. "You're sure you want him?"

"He's young," a woman said, and Jeremy still couldn't see who it was.

"Unlike me and you," Damon said, and Jeremy thought he sounded unhappy.

"Who is that?"

The woman came forward, and Jeremy shrank back into the pillows. "What the hell? Elena?"

"Not Elena," she said, and snarled at him, showing her sharp teeth.

Jeremy glanced at Damon, who was giving the woman a knowing look. "She does a passable imitation," Damon said, and got a snarl of his own.

"You wanted it to be her," Katherine said.

"I wanted it to be you first," Damon said, and shrugged. "But if you've got what you want, then you can leave Mystic Falls with your new boy."

"Don't you want to come along?" she asked.

"Not if this is going to be another game," Damon said. "I didn't like how the last one turned out."

"You were both supposed to come with me."

"Yeah, but you waited too long and left us behind," Damon said. He paused. "And you sent Isobel here with John, and they tried to kill us. Was that what you wanted too? You couldn't even be bothered to come and do it yourself?"

The woman shook her head. "There are things happening that you don't know about."

"Because you've never wanted anyone else to have the upper hand," Damon said.

"Wait, are you-" Jeremy lifted himself up on his elbows. "Are you Katherine? The one that was friends with Anna's mom?" That got him the attention of both vampires and Jeremy swallowed hard.

"How well do you know Anna?" Katherine asked.

"I knew here pretty well," Jeremy said. "She gave me some of her blood before she told me goodbye."

"Jonathan Gilbert killed her," Damon said. "Pearl too."

Katherine shook her head. "She always did like that man too much."

"Uncle John killed Anna?" Jeremy said.

"I told you I saw it," Damon said.

"You didn't tell me who did it."

"Would you have been able to look at him the same way after that?"

"No."

"I did you a favor."

"Like you did before?" Jeremy was angry now, and even though he still felt sick, he sat up and glared at Damon. "I don't need that kind of help."

"Yeah, you do, because you don't even know how to listen when somebody is telling you something obvious." Damon shifted slightly and sighed. "But since you didn't, here you are, and now you get to decide what you want to do."

"He's already tasted blood, there isn't a choice to make," Katherine said, and Damon faced her.

"I say he gets to decide for himself." He looked at Jeremy. "We're leaving town. You can stay here and die, because they will find you and kill you, or you can come with us."

"What about my sister?"

"She's not coming," Katherine said, and Damon laughed.

"Three is company, more than that is asking for a fight."

"They'll try to find us," Katherine said, watching Damon closely for something.

""Yes," Damon responded, not looking away from Jeremy as if there was no threat at all. "But you're going at staying hidden, I'm sure we'll manage."

"You have people here-" Katherine began and Damon put a hand up to stop her.

"If you want to take him, I'm going too."

"Would you come on your own?"

"I was never asked," Damon said.

Jeremy stared at them both and wondered what had happened, but then his stomach twisted and cramped, and he gasped. "What's wrong with me?"

"You need to feed," Katherine said softly and came over to Jeremy's side. She reached out and he stared at her, freaked out by how much she looked like Elena, but there was no mistaking her for somebody else, not with how cold her eyes were. "Do you want this?"

"How long will we be gone?" Jeremy asked, voice trembling.

"Maybe forever," Katherine said, and Jeremy nodded.

"I want that."

"Okay," Damon said, and pulled Jeremy to his feet.

"Where are we going?"

"We'll get a bite on the way out of town," Damon said, and then he moved fast, the way Anna had, and they were out on the freeway just past the edge of town.

"Here we go," Damon said and eased Jeremy onto his feet. He swayed in place, but stayed upright.

"I hear a car," Katherine said, and Jeremy waited as Katherine and Damon seemed to be talking silently.

"Like the first time?" Damon asked, and Katherine nodded.

"If you remember how."

"I remember everything," Damon said and when the car came around the bend, he stepped into the middle of the road and let it hit him.

"Oh my god," Jeremy said, but Katherine put a hand out when he would have gone to help.

"Not yet." Katherine watched as a man got out of the car, and went to check on Damon. Then she ran forward, crying out, and the man put a hand out to stop her from going closer.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see him-"

Jeremy could hear every word, and shivered, his stomach was growling, and he was so hungry.

"My cell phone is in the car," the man said, and as he turned away, Katherine grabbed him and bit him. On the ground, Damon had sat up, and motioned at Jeremy.

"Come on if you want some."

Jeremy stumbled forward, and when he reached them, Katherine pushed the man toward him, neck exposed, and blood visible. "Wait, shouldn't I-" Jeremy looked at the blood and then Damon.

"It's what you want," Damon said, and Jeremy leaned in, his face tightening, and sudden pressure erupting in his mouth, he jerked back and shook his head.

"I don't know what to do."

Damon sighed. "Here, give him to me." He took the man from Katherine and nodded at Jeremy. "Keep one hand over his mouth so he can't scream, and just bite down, the rest will come. Like this." Damon leaned in, and Jeremy flinched for a second, but then he could smell blood, and he let out a whine. Damon smiled as he lifted his head. "There you go. Have at it."

This time Jeremy didn't have any trouble knowing what to do, and as soon as he tasted blood, he felt better. When he raised his head again, he saw Katherine and Damon staring at him, and giving each other sideways looks. Damon had blood on his mouth, and Katherine reached out and wiped some away with her finger and licked her finger clean. Damon swayed toward her, and Katherine nodded. They kissed, and Jeremy let the body drop to the ground, not sure if he should look away, but too fascinated to try. When they did break apart, their mouths were bloody, and they were smiling.

Katherine laughed, and it was sweet and infectious, even though Jeremy was pretty sure that he didn't understand what the joke was. "You do remember."

Damon smirked at her. "I told you." He gave Jeremy a considering glance. "You should get rid of that." He nodded at the body. "Leave it in the woods."

Jeremy dragged the body off the road and realized that he wasn't even out of breath. He hadn't thought of trying to pick it up, but he realized that he was a lot stronger than he was used to, and there were other changes that were happening. The woods weren't quiet the way he was used to, he kept getting distracted by the noises of different animals, and it took him a couple minutes to pull himself together. When he was a little more focused, he dropped the body on the ground, and rolled it down an embankment, and hurried back to where Katherine and Damon were standing together. "Is that it? That's all I need to do?"

"You've barely even started," Damon said, and Katherine dug her nails into his neck, and he smiled. "We should get going, the sun will be up soon, and we've got a long way to go."

Jeremy nodded. "Okay, I'm ready."


End file.
